In industries such as the semiconductor industry and photovoltaic industry which require a high purity silicon starting material, the processing of the silicon material often generates waste silicon due to grinding, sawing, and the like. Such waste silicon is normally in the form of a slurry of small silicon particles mixed with other impurities such as carbon and the like. Substantial cost is involved in obtaining the high purity silicon in the first place and the high purity silicon scrap is desirably recovered in a pure form suitable for re-use in the manufacturing processes in which the waste silicon was generated in the first place. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to have a process which not only will recover the silicon but will recover it in a state of purity which is acceptable for the demanding semiconductor and photovoltaic industries.